Money streaming is beginning to emerge as one of DeFi’s most powerful primitives — and for good reason. It extends the functionality of our financial system in ways that were previously impossible.

But what exactly is money streaming, and how could it fit into our lives today?

Although money streaming is a simple concept on the surface, it has far-reaching implications for the economy and society as a whole.

In this article, we’ll explain what money streaming is and how it can unlock tremendous value for individuals and businesses.

What is Money Streaming?

Money streaming is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: money transferred every second in a flowing “stream.”

Today, money streaming is made possible thanks to novel functionalities enabled by blockchain technology and asset streaming protocols like Superfluid.

But, what’s the point of money streaming — and what would day-to-day life look like with it?

Let’s use the story of Sally, a content creator living in New York, as an example.

In a world running on money streaming rails, Sally would receive income from her subscription streams by the second — allowing her to put this capital to work immediately. For example, she could stream 40% of her income to cover cost of living expenses, 30% to promoting her YouTube channel, 20% to a yield-bearing position through DeFi, and the remaining 10% to an environmental conservation charity.

First, let’s review the benefits for Sally.

She is able to invest in her business, other businesses, and the causes she cares about immediately. Instead of waiting until the end of the month, she can start making a difference in the world every second she receives income.

The environmental charity, on the other hand, receives much-needed capital sooner and more predictably.

Last but not least are all of the businesses that Sally pays when streaming her living cost expenses. They receive their income in real-time as well, meaning they can stream their payments and investments forward just like Sally.

The end result is a network of cash flows (something we first described in 2020), where capital moves at theoretically infinite velocity, flowing across the economy in real-time wherever it’s needed most.

The ability for billions of individuals and businesses to immediately (and automatically) capitalize on economic opportunities is, in short, why money streaming matters. Capital can be “put to work” as you receive it, compounding interest in real time. If you’d like to learn more about what such an interconnected Web3 economy could look like, check out this keynote on YouTube.

But money streaming doesn’t create economic value just by increasing capital efficiency — it does so by increasing enterprise efficiency.

Money Streaming Streamlines Business Operations

We talked about how money streaming can help increase enterprise efficiency in an article we published last year.

In the article, we highlighted the 4 key benefits of Superfluid for DAO admin as it pertains to payroll, writing,

“Not only can DAOs [use Superfluid to] stream employee salaries in real-time (ensuring contributors are paid fairly and efficiently), but release hidden value by greatly reducing the effort, overhead, and complexity when it comes to payroll management and execution.”

We went on to explain each benefit in detail:

1. Less effort: streaming salaries allows DAOs to set a yearly (or monthly) amount to transfer and then moves the funds over time without the need for any further transactions on-chain.

2. No more overhead: you only have to set the amount of funds you want to transfer once, rather than every month. No more monthly admin and payroll transactions from complicated cold wallets.

3. Reduced complexity: you can stream to as many wallets as you want directly from a Gnosis Safe. This means you only have to add funds to one wallet to keep paying everyone.

4. Pay in real-time: contributors get paid in real-time and can use the funds as soon as they receive them.

Given the complex, on-chain nature of DAO payroll operations, Superfluid is a helpful tool for DAO admin looking to save time and cognitive effort on payroll.

However, while this article was geared towards DAOs, we believe the benefits of money streaming could apply to any enterprise in the future–so long as their payroll is on-chain!

If you’d like to learn more about how asset streaming could benefit Web3 businesses and DAOs, listen to this recent panel with some of the top builders in the industry.

Money Streaming is for the Common Good

Money streaming puts power in the hands of the people. It’s a paradigm shift that is equal parts liberating, empowering, and enriching. And while mass adoption of money streaming won’t happen overnight, it’s already beginning to change how people earn and invest for the better.